Today’s morning thoughts.
Sometimes when I read a familiar passage of the Bible, it speaks in a surprising new way. This is my reflection on Acts 4:5-12 NIV (I’ve copied them and placed then at the bottom of this reflection)
Jesus disciple, Peter, was asked by the religious leaders, “By what power do you say and do these things?” And so I asked myself this morning: By what power do I preach? By what power do I write books? By what power do I get up in the morning? My answer, like Peter’s answer, is by God’s power, God’s inspiration. That sounded almost foolish. Who am I to claim that God works through me? Yet I know it is true.
God has worked through me, or with me, or however it needs to be said, all my life. It’s only since I answered God’s call to ordained ministry that I have had any inkling of that.
First, came my struggle to say yes. Was God really calling me? Or Was I just wanting to do this because my first husband had done it, or because I wanted attention, or… Once I finally got past those questions, and went back to university, the matter wasn’t settled. In the middle of second year illness put me down for six months. When I returned for my third year, one of the other students asked, “Are you still sure God is calling you after such a huge obstacle?” I remember simply saying, “Yes, I’m sure.”
With that, the question has often returned and the difficulty answering came with it. Sunday mornings I fly on God’s Spirit when I’m preaching. When a listener says, “How did you know I needed to hear that?”, I answer, “I didn’t but God did. God is good.” To me it sounds pompous. And yet that is the only answer there is.
This morning as I thought about my life, I wrote: I know that all I do is by God’s power working through me. Without God, I would not have studied for ministry, written even one short story, let alone ten inspirational books. Now as I turn eighty, I would not even want to get up in the morning without God. The first lines of one of the three songs God has inspired me to write, over the years. rolled through my mind:
“My Jesus, my Lord, my master my friend, you walk with me; you hold my hand; through all, until the end. Your faith lies within me, on you I can depend. My Jesus, my Lord, my Master, my Friend.”
That is truth from my life. Did I heal any individuals? No. I do know that many times I’ve been thanked for saying something on a Sunday morning or in one of my books that has touched someone’s heart. Often, I could not remember saying those particular words. Those words that I said, were God’s Words given to the listener who was ready to receive them.
Most of the time, for most of us, we don’t know when something we have said or done has touched another’s heart. We live our lives doing and saying the best we can at the time. The wonder of faith is that we know we can carry Jesus’ message of love and healing, because it’s God’s power, God’s action not ours.
This morning, as once again I say yes to God’s call, I know that God is with me. Thank you, God/Jesus/Spirit, for once again teaching me this lesson, and that once again I have received it even deeper into my heart. Amen

“Jesus disciples, were teaching and healing, continuing to carry Jesus’ message. They were arrested for proclaiming that Jesus had risen from the dead. The religious leaders at the time challenged them, “By what power do you do this?
“Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.” (Acts 4:7-10 NIV)